


Wilt

by isphira



Series: Recovery [1]
Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Spoilers, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, My First AO3 Post, Not Beta Read, Panic Attacks, how do i even tag, ummm - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22313734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isphira/pseuds/isphira
Summary: A glimpse at the aftermath of Jim's exposure to the Orchid.
Series: Recovery [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612261
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Wilt

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy! I am sooo late to this game, but I just can't get enough of these boys. I've nearly read through all the Deus Ex fics here, please send help. Or fics, those'll work too.
> 
> Couldn't get this idea out of my head, so out of desperation for more, I wrote something for the first time in years. Literally. Be gentle with me, please. :)

The first thing Jim is aware of is a steady and monotone beeping. He knows this sound. Both dreads and basks in it. He’s in a hospital. Alive.

He wants to open his eyes, but he has no strength even for that. Instead he thinks. Details are blurry as they come in bits and pieces. Feels like fuzz and static and beeping are the only things in his head and he groans at the overwhelming not-sound that he can’t shut out. Through it he nearly remembers the VTOL ride to London, landing and speaking to Brown on the roof with an ever-stoic Jensen standing by. Touring the Apex Centre security protocols and being hurried away by guards, told there was a security risk found. Unable to call his people, suspicion, too late, struggling, there’s poison running down his throat, bitter and bubbly champagne. Celebration turned deadly. Finality a lead weight in his stomach. Toxic roots digging through his veins. He's going to die.

He’s unaware of the beeping, now faster, climbing in his panic. He can’t get enough air. The Orchid is squeezing his lungs. He wants to call out, but he knows it’s useless. Too late, too late. Oppressive static is in his ears now and he doesn’t hear the rustle of cloth coming closer, but a rich baritone cuts through.

“You’re safe... Jim, you’re okay.”

I’m not, I'm not, I’m

“I’ve got you. You’re safe.” 

His heaving chest isn’t the only thing he feels now. A hand, cold, both rigid and soft at once grasps his wrist, heavy, strong, there.

Stay, don’t let go, don’t

“I’m right here.”

The beeping grows steadier as he focuses on the words this voice says. The strength of the hand on his arm stays constant, a firm grip in the storm his mind conjures up. He pays no attention to additional bodies that come close, because he remembers. The roots greedily draining his life and then another drink, insistent and insubordinate, brings relief, fire rushing through his body and wilting the deadly flower. Recalls green ringed with gold, eyes he’d never seen before laid bare and worried before him. He never wanted to see those eyes, too close, too much (not enough).

“Relax. I’ve got you. You're safe.”

The hand stays. Jensen’s hand, he realizes with a flash bang of clarity through the fog. Just before he feels a drip of numbing relief start flowing through him. The good stuff, Jim thinks, and his lungs try to huff a laugh (a sob) and more fingers join the hand at his wrist, linking thumbs, palms together and holding steady. Jim curls his fingers, clings with all the strength he has. Not much, but he feels him hold tighter in response. Not cold anymore, but warming from contact. The drugs are kicking in and he sighs in relief, static and loud fog fading away again. 

Thank you

“You’re welcome. You should sleep.”

And he does, falling into silence once again. Safe.


End file.
